Watching the news reports coming out of the middle east I was reminded of a piece I wrote last year about how a simple story can be made inflammatory depending on the writers bias or from the omission or addition of certain details. I will include my original article at the end of this though. I was amused to hear that we had bombed a red cross warehouse in Kabul. The Taliban claimed that red crosses had been painted on the roofs to indicate that status. Interesting facts were left out of the story.
1. The Taliban have taken to using such normally off-limits to bombing structures as a way of protecting assets. The bombs were dropped because Taliban military vehicles were parked along the buildings side. The Talibans troops have lately taken to sleeping in mosques to avoid being bombed at night.
2. Anyone who has lived in a Muslim country, most Americans haven't, though I have, would be surprised to find that there is NO Red Cross there. The organization that we know as the Red Cross in Muslim countries is called the Red Crescent. The symbol is a red crescent moon. The cross is a Christian symbol, the crescent moon, a Muslim symbol. If these were truly Red Crescent warehouses then the roofs would have Red Crescents painted on them and as such would not be considered legitimate targets.
The story is the same in Iraq, it has been reported that a million Iraqi children have starved as a result of US sanctions on that country. I have noticed though that Saddam is looking remarkably well fed. In addition there are no reports of starvation among members of either the Iraqi army or of Baath Party members. In the areas of Iraq under control of the Kurds there is also no reports of malnutrition or starvation.
Perhaps the more naive among us would better spend their time in more productive pursuits than parroting the leftist drivel being spouted by those who have no love for this country.

Now the original article
Well time again for another lesson in researching what you read to find the truth. Please note that although you may find this disturbing ALL OF THIS IS TRUE.
The hunter raised her high powered rifle to her shoulder, peering through the 10x scope she spotted her prey; a feral cat, litter of newborn walking behind her moving through the rocks and sparse vegetation. She had spotted the tell-tale signs of their presence days before and as her quarry was both elusive and rare these days knew her patience would yield a trophy. The hunter placed the cross hairs of the scope on the head of the mother cat and calmly pulled the trigger, the high powered rifle did its deadly work and the cat fell instantly. The hunter went up to examine the carcass, finding the kittens crying piteously around their now dead mother. She quickly brought her boot down hard on each kitten killing them. After counting the number of lives she had taken that day she moved on in search of more prey.
Ok, now if that had been in a news release from say PETA or another anti-hunting group cries of "save the feral cat" would go out. A simple thing written by a skilled wordsmith can incite feelings in people which can cause instant and often misguided action. Now lets look at this in the "real world" light.

The hunter raised her high powered rifle to her shoulder, peering through the 10x scope she spotted her prey; a feral cat, litter of newborn walking behind her moving through the rocks and sparse vegetation. The hunter placed the cross hairs of the scope on the head of the mother cat and calmly pulled the trigger, the high powered rifle did its deadly work and the cat fell instantly. The Penguins nesting over their young were startled at the sound, but stayed where they were. Little did they know that a species which did not belong here had been stalking them to feed its young. The hunter went up to examine the carcass, finding the kittens crying piteously around their now dead mother. She quickly brought her boot down hard on each kitten killing them. After counting the number of lives she had taken that day she moved on in search of more prey. The feral cat eradication program on Macquarie Island is slowly eliminating a pest which was introduced here by sealers in the last century. The cats had over the years caused the extinction of two bird species which had only been known on this island. Much better than some islands here in the sub-antarctic region which had seen up to 28 species extinctions due to cats.

Now see the real facts coming out the cats which you may have wanted to help in the first story are really the "bad guy" here. In fact it is even worse on some islands. For those of you who like to learn new and interesting things about our world try going to the Macquarie Island web site. "www.antdiv.gov.au/stations/macca/index.html" Or take a map of the world and do a search using the names of any of the islands there such as Heard Island. What you will learn about these remote places and how we have accidently affected them will surprise you.
Michael St. Germaine a.k.a. JAG

Yvonne Belisle

October 18th, 2001, 09:38 AM

Thank you for this example it is a strong example of how we are frequently manipulated by not doing our own research when something strikes our intrest. I myself have been guilty more times than I would care to admit and normally the truth falls between two views.

Yvonne Belisle

March 25th, 2004, 06:11 PM

I still feel the same about this as I did then. How do you feel about this?

Dark Phoenix

March 25th, 2004, 10:05 PM

This is something I have been aware of for sometime, that there is always an angle to be played. Any news organiztion left, right, center, etc will always have a different take. Some will strech a story to raise the anger or shock of the reader or viewer, no organiztion is innoncent of doing this.